To be clear, the legal sale of Battlefield 3 in Iran has never exactly been widespread. But as is the way of the world, "street vendors" had been selling the game anyway, and according to reports that's resulted in a crackdown from Iranian authorities

While many retailers never even bothered stocking the game (in which you play various Americans blowing the shit out of Iran), anticipating such a move, a story from Lebanon's Daily Star reported those few who have tried now find themselves the target of raids and arrests.

This isn't surprising. What is surprising is EA's response, telling website IndustryGamers, "In that Battlefield 3 is not available for purchase in Iran, we can only hope the ban will help prevent pirated copies reaching consumers there".